The “luck o’ the Irish” is a big theme this time of year. Living in the city with the largest Irish festival outside of Ireland I saw that theme being lived out all year long. People go to extreme lengths to do something lucky or to avoid something that’s unlucky. There’s just one problem…there’s no such thing as luck. There’s no four-leaf clover; no rabbit’s foot; no certain unwashed pair of underwear (yuck!) that will happen to bring anyone any better fortune on a given day. There’s also no black cat; no broken mirror; no Friday the 13^th that will ever happen to bring anyone any worse fortune either. Sorry to burst a bubble. These superstitions are the idea that things happen by chance. That the objects or the circumstances hold the power, but they don’t because they can’t!

When good things happen, they are blessings from God. We are incredibly blessed by God each day. And even when trials happen, and they will happen because of sin in this world, we are still incredibly blessed by God. Those hard days, we may have to look a little bit harder to see the blessings, but they’re there. My brother-in-law once challenged us to look for five blessings for every challenge we could see. At first that was difficult, especially because we couldn’t repeat what we’d already said. After some practice, though two things happened 1) we stopped seeing so many challenges and things to complain about (because we didn’t want to have to counter them all with blessings!) and 2) we saw more and more blessings well beyond the quota.

Instead of luck, let’s talk about the blessings God gives this St. Patrick’s Day:

• Who is St. Patrick?-St. Patrick was a Christian missionary to Ireland in the 400’s. He shared the faith first with the heads of clans and then partnered with them and using their influence, helped to convert whole clans to faith in Christ as Savior. St. Patrick’s Day can be a reminder to us to share the faith with others. Discuss one person you each might be able to share the faith with this month.
• Green-Green on St. Patrick’s Day symbolizes the new life of spring time. In the Church, we use the color of green to symbolize the new life we have in Christ and how we continue to grow in our faith throughout each year. It is the color on the altar for the majority of the year; the whole season of Pentecost. Wearing green or seeing lots of green can remind us of all that Christ has done for us and the new life He gave us at Baptism.
• Clovers-There are clovers on everything around St. Patrick’s Day. Some misunderstand this as four-leaf clovers thought to be a sign of good luck (see luck below). The analogy actually comes from St. Patrick’s explanation of God as Triune. God is three persons, united as one, similar to the three leaves on a clover that make up one clover. There’s no perfect analogy of the Trinity because it’s so hard for us to understand how God can be three in one, distinct yet undivided, but St. Patrick used something that was seen often in Ireland to try to help people understand. Discuss ways that you can talk about faith using ordinary things that you see around you everyday.
• Leprechauns-Leprechauns are Irish fairies from fairytales that are mythical miniature men. In fairytales they are shoemakers who save lots of money that they store in pots of gold at the end of rainbows. Though leprechauns have no association with the day, because they are also Irish, they began to get lumped into the Irish celebration of St. Patrick’s Day. Discuss the difference between a fairytale and real story (like things that happen to people in your life or in the Bible).
• Luck-Luck is basically the idea that good things that happen, happen by chance. Some people follow this so closely and believe that certain things are by themselves “good luck” or “bad luck.” (Usually we call this superstitious). For example, some superstitious people believe a four-leaf clover is “good luck” because it is so rare. Or finding a penny heads up will bring you “good luck.” As Christians, we know that ordinary objects like pennies and clovers don’t contain any magic to make good things happen to you. Good things that happen to people, don’t simply happen by chance, they are blessings from God. God gives us many blessings each day, but sometimes we must look to really notice them. What are blessings God has given to you?

Deuteronomy 6:6-7 charges us to talk about faith as we go about life, “Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your strength. These commandments that I give you today are to be on your hearts. Impress them on your children. Talk about them when you sit at home and when you walk along the way, when you lie down and when you get up.”

We are blessed so that we can bless others. Count your blessings, then be a blessing to others!